Class at San Clemente High School that tried to send a miniature trimaran on a course to Hawaii in April plans to try again in December with two new boats equipped with altered designs, GPS units, digital cameras, navigation lights and a path-tracking Facebook page.

By DAVID BRO / SPECIAL TO THE REGISTER

SAN CLEMENTE -(CA)- A 3-D model-making class that tried to sail a miniature trimaran to Hawaii in April is at it again.

Instructor Malcolm Wilson’s Regional Occupational Program students are meeting twice a week at San Clemente High School with plans to launch two new 6-foot-long foam and fiberglass boats in early December, probably from Capistrano Beach, where the spring attempt began.

Regional Occupational Program 3-D model-making student Ian Sprenger stands beside the trimaran Wilson in April before its launch at Capistrano Beach for a hoped-for voyage to Hawaii. It was found three weeks later washed up at Laguna Beach.

The boat, a sort of “message in a bottle,” held a log book in a waterproof compartment so that anyone who found it could write where, when and how it was found.

This semester, 50 different students modernized the concept with onboard GPS units and a Facebook page (Team Wiki Wiki.webloc) that will illustrate the projected path south across the Pacific Ocean. In addition, a pair of digital cameras to take timed photos along the voyage will be mounted on the vessels, as well as battery-powered LED navigation lights.

The boats, already shaped in foam and in the process of having fiberglass applied, are the products of what project leader and San Clemente High School senior Dallas Krick, 17, said were several weeks of class study on what ancient mariners used in their quest to conquer the waves. The students settled on a design that most resembles what Philippine fishermen have traditionally used, with features especially constructed to get through big waves.

This year’s effort is spearheaded by the monohulled Wiki-Wiki (“speedy” in Hawaiian), with a larger and heavier fixed keel and a wing foil instead of a traditional sail. Malcolm Wilson said he’d like to provide space on the vessel for a sponsor logo in exchange for helping with the project’s estimated $1,000 cost.

The other boat, the NeNe, is a sleeker, slightly smaller and faster trimaran than the more stable Wiki-Wiki. The NeNe, named after Hawaii’s state bird, will have a more traditional sloop sail rig, with sail material already donated by sailors with boats at Dana Point Harbor.

San Clemente High junior Daniel Therrien, 17, and senior Matt Cox, 17, worked together this past week on the final shaping of the NeNe in the hallway outside their classroom, with shavings of foam swirling around them.

Before joining the class, Cox had thought of signing up for a restaurant course.